NSH Petro’s stock soars 65% in a month after Australian fund engagement

Shares of NSH Petro, a major fuel supplier in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, gained 65% in a month after it received a $290 million loan from Australian’s Acuity Funding and appointed a new CEO.

After plunging to the bottom level of VND4,340 ($0.17) per share, PSH of NSH Petro has recorded positive transactions in the past month, hitting its ceiling price of VND7,210 ($0.28) per share on Tuesday. Trading volume has also much improved, from some hundreds of thousands to several million units.

Role of Acuity Funding

PSH increased sharply after NSH Petro's board of directors approved a $290 million loan from Acuity Funding, a member of Berhero Pty Ltd. The loan is expected to be disbursed in the second quarter. The company will use it to pay tax arrears and bank debts, expand working capital, and invest in projects.

At the end of the first quarter, NSH Petro's total debt was VND6,716 billion ($263.84 million), 4.3 times higher than its equity. Of which, long-term debt was VND1,411 billion and short-term debt VND5,305 billion. It had also incurred tax arrears and other amounts payable to the state totaling VND1,268 billion ($49.8 million).

In addition, the company had a total bond debt of VND757 billion ($29.74 million) from two packages that will mature in April and June this year.

Acuity Funding will provide an additional $430 million to NSH Petro to build five new factories in Tien Giang province, renovate the Nam Viet Cai Rang factory in Can Tho city, increase working capital, and support the completion of mixed-use projects in Dong Phu (Hau Giang province) and Phong Dien district (Can Tho city).

Along with the loans from Acuity Funding, NSH Petro also made related senior personnel appointments. The company appointed Ranjit Prithviraj Thambyrajah and Nguyen Viet Anh, both of Australian nationality, as CEO and deputy CEO in charge of financial investment respectively on April 26. The new CEO is currently chairman and CEO of Acuity Funding and the new deputy CEO is director of Acuity Funding Vietnam.

Chairman slashes ownership ratio

NSH Petro is associated with chairman Mai Van Huy, who is also former director of Dong Thap Petroleum Trading Import Export JSC. At the beginning of 2023, Huy was the largest shareholder, owning 66.65% of the company's charter capital, equivalent to more than 84 million shares.

Since then he has sold off millions of PSH shares, partly for personal needs and partly due to forced selling. From April 15 to April 17, the NSH Petro chairman sold 18.8 million shares due to force selling, reducing his ownership to 56.5 million units, or 44.8% of the company's charter capital.

The board of directors also accepted the resignation of Huy’s son Mai Huu Phuc as deputy CEO on May 24.

The company's board of directors now has four members, including Mai Van Huy as chairman, Mai Van Thanh - Huy's brother, as vice chairman, Ha Ngoc Thuong and Vo Bich Tram.

Huge capital hike plan

NSH Petro currently has a charter capital of VND1,262 billion ($49.58 million). Its leadership plans to double that by offering 130 million private placement shares at a price of VND10,000 ($0.39) apiece. These shares will be restricted from transfers for one year.

The company wants to mobilize VND1,300 billion ($51.07 million) to buy raw materials for its production and business activities. The disbursement will be done in 2024 and 2025.

This year, it has set ambitious targets of VND14,566 billion ($572.23 million) in revenue and after-tax profit of VND328 billion ($12.88 million), up 2.4 times and 6.9 times from 2023, respectively.

The company reported that its revenue in the first quarter of 2024 plunged by 88% to VND476 billion ($18.7 million), with a net loss of VND24 billion ($942,840).